Product Review: Squatty Potty
Back in July, I found out that I had won a giveaway that I entered on the blog Yoga by Candace. (Candace’s blog is excellent. If you’re into yoga, I highly recommend checking her out). I actually had kind of mixed feelings about the fact that out of all the blog giveaways I’ve entered, this is the one I’d won. While I was very excited to try out the product, I also was kind of embarrassed at the thought of it actually being in my house.
I emailed my fiancé and excitedly told him I’d won a giveaway! That was a $90 value! His response was basically “Yay! Wait…what did you win? What?”
What is this product that elicits such mixed emotions?
The Squatty Potty.
Basically it’s a stool to help you poop better. The theory is that humans were designed to squat when we poop. If you think about it, our ancestors weren’t taking a relaxing seat when they went. If you’ve ever had to poop while camping, you are familiar with how our ancestors actually pooped. Squatting. Over a hole. In fact in Eastern countries this is often still done. In any case, the designer of the Squatty Potty discovered that having your legs at the squatting angle removes a bend from your colon. This means your poop comes out better, relieving hemorrhoids and constipation. Now, I was skeptical of this, but I also figured, what have I got to lose trying it for free? Also, Candace gave away the top-of-the-line bamboo Squatty Potty, and I just really love bamboo products.
The Squatty Potty arrived flat-packed. We unboxed it, discovered we had to assemble it, and proceeded to not assemble it for a few weeks. I wish we had assembled it sooner. First, it actually wasn’t hard to assemble at all. Second, we’d have had two more weeks of getting to use it.
The assembly is really easy. Like if assembling Ikea furniture is Mount Everest, the Squatty Potty is a leisurely stroll up a gentle hill. The instructions clearly explain how to set up the Squatty Potty to be the right height for your toilet and your abilities. There are two heights of toilets in the West, so you do have to measure the height of your toilet to see which one you have. From there, you can choose either regular or advanced squatting. Regular squatting isn’t actually squatting. Your legs are just casually resting on the stool. No effort involved. From what I understand, advanced would require actual squatting, but we’ve never tried it, so I could be wrong.
When you’re not actually in need of the Squatty Potty, it tucks away very nicely under your toilet. You hardly notice it. (Well, our cat notices it. She rubs her face on it every time she walks by, but that’s cats for you).
When you are ready to use it, you just sit on the toilet and pull the Squatty Potty out to the distance that feels comfortable for you. It has handy handles and is very lightweight so pulling it out and sliding it back is really easy. You can see it at the approximate “in use” position below.
If you would like to see a person actually sitting in the position, click on through to the Squatty Potty website. That is not a picture I was willing to model for, lol.
So, what were the results? Our incredulity was completely unwarranted. It really works. Exactly like it says it does. You will poop far faster. Your colon will also empty out more fully, meaning less repeat visits to the bathroom. We were utterly shocked at how much less time we are spending in the bathroom. It’s to the point where I’m now sad that these aren’t in public bathrooms. I’m genuinely sad when I have to poop, and there’s no squatty potty.
You may be thinking, why can’t you just squat without it? Maybe you could if you’re really tall. If you’re average height or shorter, though, it’s impossible to squat to the proper angle without something to boost you up higher. You just can’t hang your butt down far enough without touching the toilet.
On top of the fact that it works, it’s also really comfortable to use. You can just sit comfortably and rest your arms on your knees. You could easily linger there comfortably, except you won’t have to because the Squatty Potty does its job so well. We like it so much, we’re actually talking about gifting it to people at the holidays.
If you would like to try one out, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to do so. Squatty Potty offers a range of models, costing $25 for a plastic one, $60 for a slim one, and $80 for the bamboo one we have. My fiancé pointed out that he thinks it would be nice if the company had another high-end model for people whose decor would not go with bamboo. For instance, a modern looking one made out of something like carbon fiber. I think this is a great expansion idea for the company. I could definitely see it helping the brand to expand into sleek, modern designs, in addition to the all-natural bamboo.
(You may be wondering why I said this was a $90 value win, when our Squatty Potty costs $80. That’s because we also got a $10 value Sweet Loo Potty Spray).
ETA as of 2020 the cost has gone down to $39.99.
Overall, words cannot sufficiently express how awesome the Squatty Potty is. It flummoxes me that our toilets were designed in such a bad way, but it overjoys me that someone stepped up and designed a simple, cheap fix. Everyone should try one of these. You will not regret it.
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5 out of 5 stars
Source: won from a blog giveaway
Yeah, your tags might not lead a lot of book bloggers to read this post! 😉 It sounds like the company is onto something, but it might take a while to catch on in the U.S.?
I often wonder if anyone even looks at my tags, now I know, lol!
No worries, the blog isn’t going to turn into a product review blog. I just like to help out other blogs with a quick post when I win something through them. The most I would envision is maybe one product review a month.
I think it will catch on slowly, quietly, and secretly. Having a squatty potty just won’t be discussed but everyone will secretly have one. 😉
Could be! I had never heard of it, but spent time in India as a high school exchange student and learned all about squatting to poop then!
What a unique exchange location! I’ve literally never heard of anyone exchanging to India before. (I went to Germany as an exchange student in high school myself).